Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Associated Press January 12, 2018
A church employee surveys the damage caused by an overnight fire bomb attack at the Emmanuel Catholic Church, in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Jan. 12, 2018. Three churches were attacked with fire bombs in Santiago overnight, dropping leaflets at the scene against the upcoming visit of Pope Francis, and calling for a "free" Mapuche nation. Nobody was injured or arrested. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Authorities in Chile say three Roman Catholic churches have been firebombed days before Pope Francis is set to visit the Andean nation.

The attacks happened overnight in Santiago, the capital and largest city, where the pope will arrive Monday.

They involved hitting the churches with firebombs and then spraying accelerant. In one church, the doors were burned before firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Outside one church, pamphlets were found exhorting the cause of the Mapuche indigenous people and threatening the pope.

They read: "The next bombs will be in your cassock."

Interior Ministry official Mahmud Aleuy called the damage "minor."

A bomb squad was also deployed to an evangelical church, where a barrel of flammable liquid was believed to be inside.

No arrests have been made.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Although overtly campaigning to be pope is discouraged and would be counterproductive, the cardinals do a lot of politicking in private prior to the conclave.
Thomas J. ReeseApril 22, 2025
Pope Francis’ final moments were peaceful, and he managed to give one last farewell to his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, before slipping into a coma early April 21, Vatican News reported.
All of Pope Francis' gestures, meetings and desires for encounter were themselves a form of “teaching.” And L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics and their families have told me repeatedly what a difference this change in approach has meant. 
James Martin, S.J.April 22, 2025
Pope Francis was a great lover of literature: He peppered his homilies, talks and even encyclicals with literary references from Dostoyevsky, Proust, Hopkins, Dante and more, and he also encouraged his flock to read broadly and often.
James T. KeaneApril 22, 2025